Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Champ Car’s Bourdais making noise on IROC circuit

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

While the rest of the drivers in the Champ Car World Series have some time off before resuming the season Sept. 24 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, series points leader Sebastien Bourdais will hone his oval-racing skills next weekend in the third International Race Of Champions event of the season at Richmond International Raceway.

In April, Bourdais became the first Champ Car/CART driver in eight years to win an IROC race and has impressed many in the stock-car community in the process. At the midway point of the four-race IROC season, Bourdais is second in points behind NASCAR veteran Mark Martin.

But don't look for Bourdais to start eyeing a career in NASCAR -- at least right away.

"Before I can say I want to do that, I need to see if I'm really good at it so I need to test the car," Bourdais said, referring to Nextel Cup or Busch Series cars. "If I am (good at it), then, yeah, why not in the future? You never know what the future is made of so I'm not going to close that door.

"Definitely, I'm having a good time in these stock cars and until I test it, I can't say if I'm good enough to do that. Maybe somebody's going to give me a chance to show what I can do."

Paul Tracy, Bourdais' Champ Car rival, earlier this month tested a Nextel Cup car at Michigan International Speedway for Richard Childress Racing but Bourdais said the two have not talked about the test.

"We don't talk about too many things," Bourdais said of Tracy. "I really have a tough time qualifying the kind of relationship we have together."

Bourdais said his immediate goal is to defend his 2004 Champ Car World Series championship -- he has a comfortable 61-point lead over Newman/Haas Racing teammate Oriol Servia with four races remaining -- although he said he still is hoping for an opportunity to race in Formula One.

"Obviously, my future right now seems to be in Champ Cars, (but) I'd really like to have a chance at Formula One," Bourdais said. "I tested two cars in F1 in 2002 and it went great and I really feel that I have something to compete for over there.

"The truth is, all I need is an opportunity; so far it doesn't present itself. I probably still have a two-year window for Formula One -- I would say you would probably never make it past 30 years old. I'm 26, so 28 is probably a realistic figure."

A PIECE OF HISTORY: The damaged front wing from Danica Patrick's Indianapolis 500 car, which fetched $42,650.01 in an eBay auction in June, is being displayed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

The wing, on loan from J.B. Moresco of Los Angeles, was damaged when Patrick collided with Panther Racing driver Tomas Enge during the 500. After the race, Panther discovered the part with the debris from Enge's car and received permission from Rahal Letterman Racing to auction off the piece -- which Patrick autographed -- for charity.

Patrick in May became the first female driver to lead a lap in the Indianapolis 500 en route to her fourth-place finish.

END QUOTE: Oriol Servia, who earned his first career Champ Car victory in Sunday's Molson Indy Montreal, after becoming only the seventh driver in series history to lead only the final lap of a race:

"I led so many laps before and it took me six years to understand that it's the last one that counts. I'm just really happy I finally did understand."

OUTLAWS UPDATE: Donny Schatz earned his fifth World of Outlaws A-feature victory of the season Saturday night at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.

Steve Kinser finished second in the main event and increased his lead in the WoO standings to 474 points over Jason Meyers. Kinser is well on his way to capturing his 20th Outlaws season championship.